The original proxy servers, which functioned as proxies for clients desiring to access servers on the Internet as well as providing certain relay services, were used to establish firewalls for internal networks. Subsequently, however, following modifications that enabled them to anticipate client requests, proxy servers began to provide other services, such as prefetching, autopilot uses and caching, in addition to the proxy and relay functions. Thereafter, the services provided by proxy servers continued to be expanded, and presently, functions are available for adding data (embedding probes, virus checking, etc.) or for altering data (translation, summarization or changing an accent), for adjusting or deleting forms (deleting graphics, adjusting the number of colors, deleting inappropriate links, etc.), and for transmissions.
Eventually, as the available proxy server services grew ever more varied, it became difficult for a single server to satisfactorily perform all of the expected functions, and currently, instead of using only one server, networks tend to employ a plurality of servers and to distribute the various proxy server functions among them. Furthermore, especially since the development of the WWW (World Wide Web) portion of the Internet, it has become necessary for various proxy server functions employed by specific applications (e.g., the embedding of research probes in web pages, the embedding of Japanese or English translations, etc.) to be rapidly and effortlessly activated, and for the proxy servers affected to quickly and easily halt their operations after the functions have been performed.
In order to use proxy server functions for WWW-based applications, an user must employ to specify setup information of the proxy servers on the Web browsers. However, since special skills are required for such setups, and since some client machines are not authorized to perform such setup changes, it is not realistic to expect ordinary users of Web browsers to set up proxy servers. Therefore, conventionally, proxy servers can neither be rapidly and effortlessly activated, nor quickly and easily halted.
As is described above, currently, no means is provided whereby an ordinary client can employ proxy server functions while a simple switching function is being quickly performed. When a conventional proxy server, however, is to be employed to provide, at the least, the various functions described above, several means can be considered whereby a client can use the proxy server functions while freely switching between them. As an example of how this can be done, either all the required proxy servers can be operated by a single server machine, or the operation of a proxy server that is required to run a native application can be controlled by a client machine.
When all the required proxy server processes have been activated by a server, so long as the proxy setup performed with the Web browser was enabled by the client machine, the pertinent proxy functions can be employed immediately. However, as is described above, since special skills are required in order to employ a Web browser in this manner, this is not an easy task for an ordinary user.
When a specific proxy server process is not activated by a server, since some client machines are not authorized to activate a proxy server, all the proxy server processes that may be employed must be activated, regardless of whether the processes are actually used. In this case, however, since proxy servers are activated but are not actually employed, an extra load is imposed on the server. And furthermore, since the server is tasked with providing services for all clients that seek to employ the proxy server functions, and since, under the circumstances, it is prevented from performing a requested setup for each client, operational flexibility is reduced.
Further, when a proxy server that is required to run a native application is to be operated by a client machine, the pertinent application program must be loaded into the client machine. However, even after the application program has been loaded, the proxy setup must be changed, or must be returned to its initial state, each time use of the proxy server function is initiated or halted. As a result, a great deal of labor is required.
To resolve the above shortcomings, it is one object of the present invention to provide a simple operation for quickly initiating a proxy server function when it is required by a network application.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a simple operation for quickly returning a proxy server function to its initial state after performance of the pertinent function has been completed, so that the switching and the employment of the proxy server function can be easily and freely accomplished.
It is an additional object of the present invention to reduce the load imposed on a server to provide a proxy server, and to flexibly and quickly cope with a request for a new proxy server function.